Tension
by I hart Booth
Summary: Tension can lead to lots of things. Shouting, nit-picking, sarcasm and insults. It can also lead to this...reaction to Santa in the Slush It's also a spoiler for this Epi if you haven't seen it , oneshot BB


**So I realized something, Santa in the Slush means an end of all our lovely little fics about how the first kiss actually comes about, which I for one, am a bit sad about. I'm glad it's finally happened, but it's still like the end of an era. Well, this one I had in my head long before the fateful moment under the mistletoe, so I'm posting it in that frame of mind, and hoping you will read it similarly**

It all began with Sweets. Dr. Sweets and his knowing smiles and patronizing agreeability. The way he so passive aggressively insisted that there was a strong connection between them that went well beyond the realm of normal investigative partners. A connection of the _romantic_ type. He'd been so sure if they'd only kiss, just once, it would show them just how far this "complementary relationship" could go. They, of course, insisted this "connection" he saw was just a concoction of his 'overworked little 12-year-old brain' and tension they naturaly exumed. So they kissed, just to prove him wrong.

Only there was one little thing they didn't count on…Sweets was right. But, they were better actors than originally anticipated and after a brief moment when they forgot where their own names and got lost in the clouds, they promptly returned to earth and to Sweets' office and bombarded him with smug smiles and shoulders shrugs and muttered 'I told you so's. They'd been dismissed by a pouting Sweets and went their separate ways, determined to live the lie they'd just told.

Until tonight. Because aside from Sweets being more perceptive than either of them were ever going to admit, there was one other thing the two partners didn't count on.

Temperance Brennan's sex drive.

She'd never been the type of woman to crave a man. She was far too independent and self assured for that. She had never really been the type to _need_ a man at all. Men, perhaps, they were obviously necessary to the propagation of the species and were very good at lifting heavy objects, but really, there was nothing a man could do for her that she couldn't do for herself. It was sometimes more appealing with a man, but really it was just messier. Both literally and figurativly.

But Temperance Brennan was being forced to reconsider this point of view since lately, she'd been having some very odd, very disturbing, very _strong_ cravings. And none of them had to do with food.

She knew, in the back of her mind, that they'd known all along. It was, in fact, painfully obvious. Angela had known since the first time she'd laid eyes on them. Hodgins and Cam had known for an indiscernible amount of time as well. And really, she knew that the way Booth often touched her, innocent little things like guiding her by the small of her back, giving her hugs and shamelessly flirting the way he did, she knew those were things he didn't do with just anyone.

And if she was going to be completely honest with herself, she'd been the same way. She could honestly say that Booth was the only man, not related to her by blood, that she'd ever kissed on the cheek. And sometimes she still couldn't believe she'd done it. In many ways, she was much more comfortable with a full on French-Porno Stripper Tounge-Duel than she was an innocent peck on the cheek. Because while one was an obvious means to an end, a kiss on the cheek was just…so much more innocent and therefore, more intimate.

She clasped her hands in her lap, they shook slightly as she waited for him to return from the kitchen with a few more beers. They had been sitting side by side on his living room floor for nearly three hours now, working over the latest case until they were ready to shoot each other in the head.

She'd been snippy, he'd been sarcastic, more than once they'd been deliberately insulting to one another, for no other purpose than to distract themselves. From Brennan's increasingly more obvious carnal desires, from Booth's confusion and irritation at her irratic behavior, from the atrocities splayed out before them in neat manila folders.

He came to sit beside her, wordlessly handing her a beer and avoiding her gaze as he returned to his notes. She could tell by his flushed cheeks and ears that he was still a bit upset by what she'd said, and perhaps she had been a bit out of line.

Okay, _way_ out of line.

With a small sigh, she bit her lip and reached out, squeezing his forearm until he looked up at her.

"I didn't mean it Booth...I-I'm sorry."

Immediately his eyes softened and he smiled, turning his arm so their hands were palm to palm.

"Me either Bones." He nudged her lightly in the shoulder and she knew she was forgiven.

After a few seconds he started to look away, but she was having none of it. They were sitting too close, he felt too warm and strong, smelled too good for her to let this moment pass by as if it were just like any other. So in a split-second decision, she changed everything there was between them.

Reaching up with her free hand, she touched his cheek, steering his face back to hers.

"Booth," she whispered, inching evermore closer until she could feel his breath on her face, "would it be completely inappropriate if I kissed you right now?"

His eyes sparkled a bit with shock and amazement, but he didn't pull away. Didn't even flinch. His eyes fell momentarily to her lips, but she wasn't expecting it when he pushed his own hand up into her hair and pulled her face to his.

It was the best answer she couldn't think of.

**Well, even replacing the beginning with what really happend, I still think the end _could_ potentially happen. I'm definitly not going to complain if it does, especially if it continues...onto the couch...the wall...the bedroom...Whoa. That got smutty fast. :)**


End file.
